The northern English borderlands play host to crime noir at its darkest and most terrifying.

DI Joni Pax, a London homicide detective, wounded in a disastrous raid, has been transferred to the newly formed Police Force of North East England. Her boss, DCI Hector 'Heck' Rutherford, is recently back at work after cancer treatment. Between them they are responsible for major crime in rural Northumberland and County Durham. Joni, the daughter

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Famed opera singer Sabine Conrad's attempt to leave her controlling manager results in his murder and Sabine on the run. She assumes a new identity as Marguerite Olson and creates a life for herself in Seattle, but then her past catches up with her.

"Karen Memory is back with a tale about spiritualists, magicians, con-men, and an angry lost borglum, or tommy-knocker--a magical creature who generally lives in the deep gold mines of Alaska, but has been kidnapped and brought to Rapid City. Karen and Priya are out for a night on the town, celebrating the purchase of their own little ranch and Karen's retirement from Madame Damnable's establishment, when they meet the Arcade Sisters, spiritualists...

"'Some years ago, in Dodge, I was a sporting woman. I didn't mind whoring--it can be good work in the right house--but it demands a great deal of keeping still, and I'm one of those itchy, fidgety sorts who's always looking out the window or glancing toward the door, so it was only a matter of time until I had to move on.' In the Spring of 1877, Bridget-sixteen years old and already disillusioned after caring for her alcoholic father--is orphaned...

"Veronica Speedwell and her historian colleague Stoker are asked by Lady Wellingtonia Beauclerk to help with a scandal so explosive it threatens to rock the monarchy. Someone has bought an expensive jewel for the portieres of London's most expensive club, a gift that's traced to Prince Albert Victor. Worse, Jack the Ripper has started his killing spree, and Lady Wellingtonia fears the killer is the Price. Now Victoria and Stoker and working undercover...

"The year is 1881. Seven-year-old Jinhua is left an orphan, alone and unprotected after her mandarin father's summary execution for the crime of speaking the truth. For seven silver coins, she is sold to a brothel-keeper and subjected to the worst of human nature. Will the private ritual that is her father's legacy and the wise friendship of the crippled brothel maid be enough to sustain her? When an elegant but troubled scholar takes Jinhua as his...

"Young dandy Fletcher Ralston's privileged life of education and ease in the East comes to an abrupt end when he's summoned to the dried-up Wyoming town of Promise to inherit a run-down bordello and a lifetime of debts. The old woman he's known only via correspondence as his "aunt" is in truth the madam of the brothel. After their meeting, she is found with her throat slit, and Fletcher is suspect number one. But the old lady's paramour, crusty Gunnar...